Like Chandra Manning’s argument that soldier’s changed their opinions on slavery as the war continued, Abraham Lincoln also goes through transformations in his ideas about what he feels should be done about slavery. As early as 1854, Lincoln began to way in on the issue of what should be done about slavery. After the repeal of the Kansas-Nebraska act (or the Missouri Compromise), Lincoln is frustrated as he sees that in the absence of this act, the congress has allowed the spread of slavery into Kansas and Nebraska. Instead, Lincoln implies that Congress should have used its power to dictate the end to the spread of slavery west not only for itself but for the world as it should make stand against the “monstrous injustice of slavery.” (#5) This original hard stance on what should be done to stop the spread of slavery and his hard opinion on the institution of slavery itself would not remain the same throughout his career.
As a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1858, Lincoln boldly states, “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” Here he establishes his first position, of non-interference with the established institution of slavery which he no longer claims is “monstrous injustice,” and more importantly he declares that he believes (as a possible Senator) that he has no lawful right to do so. The established institution of slavery is not an issue on the table for Lincoln, instead he sees a greater issue with the status of future status of territories and new states. In these situations, Lincoln advocates the concept of popular sovereignty by which the citizens of the new states and territories, despite his desire not to allow the continued expansion of the institution.
The issue of slavery and what should be done about it weighs heavily on Lincoln who originally had very negative feelings against slavery and wished to stop its spread. Still as Lincoln approached his entrance into the Presidential office, he makes a point to contact Alexander Stephens for his opinions on the issue and so that Lincoln might be able to quell his fears about what a republican would do against the institution off slavery in the south. Yet between taking office and 1863, something changed in Lincoln’s mind as he issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in the Confederacy, the exact move of action against the South and the established institutions of slavery that Lincoln pledged to uphold in 1854. What changed between the time Lincoln to called slavery a “monstrous injustice,” his belief that it was not within his power to go against the established, to his emancipation of all Confederate slaves.
The only explanations for this change could possibly be the war itself, the changing mood of soldier, and the changing perception of a nation on the issue that divided it into two warring parts. With these changes in mind, Lincoln was able to make the necessary adjustments to follow the mood of his people while staying with in his personal disgust of slavery which stayed with him throughout. This disgust is described in a 1864 letter of Lincoln in which he states, “I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” This disgust for slavery, while present, may not have resulted in the Emancipation Proclamation without the changing opinion of the nation between the years of 1954 and 1863. These changes in opinions about slavery, what should be done about it, and the Civil War itself provided the context in which Lincoln’s disgust could transform from an opinion suppressed by the will of the nation and need for Union, to the reunification of a nation on Union terms and with major changes to the social structure of the South.